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Good morning! It’s Amy with Chalkbeat New York. Hope remote learning went as smoothly as possible for you on Election Day.
Just months after City Hall’s AI moratorium for student-facing generative AI across elementary and middle schools, Google is shifting the rules of engagement. As our friends on Chalkbeat’s National desk report, the tech giant rolled out a "Guided Learning" mode designed to turn Gemini into a step-by-step problem solver instead of a cheat sheet, but warned that turning off student AI features will shut off Google Search across school accounts.
Mayor Mamdani quickly pushed back on X, arguing that “no corporation should have the power to dictate how we teach our children.” What this means for hundreds of thousands of students on city-issued devices remains unclear. Education Department officials did not respond to our questions on whether students can currently see AI Overviews during Google searches or whether the city would consider moving away from Google products if the company refuses to offer an opt-out.
In other news, Democrats swept key midterm races across the country, potentially setting the stage for a harder line against President Donald Trump’s education agenda in Congress and more voucher oversight in the states. Read more about that here.
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Around Chalkbeat
Google promises to stop doing students’ homework for them
Democrats sweep in blue tsunami. What does it mean for education?
Here’s what the Supreme Court said during oral arguments in Colorado’s Catholic preschool case
What We’re Reading
Dear American Parent: You’re Welcome!, The New York Times (Opinion)
Election Day at Home: The Pros and Cons of Virtual School, The Survey (Brooklyn Tech newspaper, Opinion)
New York Has Too Many Schools for Too Few Students, City Journal (Opinion)


